Lizard Island National Park

Lizard Island National Park
Beach on Lizard Island
Coordinates: 14 ° 40 ′ 8 ″  S , 145 ° 27 ′ 34 ″  E
Location:	Queensland , Australia
Specialty:	Coral reefs
Next city:	Cooktown
Surface:	9.91 km²
Founding:	1939

The Lizard Island National Park (English: Lizard Island National Park ) is a national park in the northeast of the Australian state of Queensland .

location

It is 1,624 kilometers northwest of Brisbane and 70 kilometers north of Cooktown .

The island belongs to the Lizard Island Group . The archipelago is part of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Site .

The national parks Turtle Group , Three Islands Group , MountWebb and Starcke are in the neighborhood .

National nature

Lizard Island is a granite island with a footprint of 9.91 square kilometers that rises to 359 meters above sea level. South of the main island there are four smaller islands, Osprey Island , Palfrey Island , South Island, and Seabird Islets . A little to the west of this group is Eagle Island . Its reefs surround a blue lagoon ten meters deep.

Flora and fauna

More than half of Lizard Island is grassland. There are also eucalyptus and acacia forests , heathland, as well as myrtle heather and mangrove swamps .

The most famous animal on the island is the Argus monitor . The surrounding islands are important breeding grounds, especially for terns .

Facilities and access

There is a campground on Watsons Bay equipped with restrooms, picnic tables, grills, and a fountain. Several hiking trails lead across the island.

The islands can be reached by private planes from Cairns or Cooktown and by boats from Cairns, Cooktown and Port Douglas . Lizard Island has a small airfield.

history

Before the Europeans arrive

The local Aborigines of the Dingaal tribe called the island Dyiigurra and was considered a holy place. The natives used them to initiate young men and to catch shellfish, turtles, dugongs and fish. The Dingaal believed that the Lizard Island Group came into being in Dreamtime . They viewed the archipelago as stingrays , with Lizard Island itself forming the body and three other islands forming the tail. The Dingiil tribe call the island Jiigurru .

After the arrival of the Europeans

The island got its current name from Captain Cook when he passed it on August 12, 1770. He reported:

"The only land Animals we saw here were Lizards, and these seem'd to be pretty Plenty, which occasioned my naming the Island Lizard Island ."

"The only land animals we saw were monitor lizards and there seemed to be quite a few, so I named the island Lizard Island "

- James Cook : Logbook

Cook climbed the mountain on Lizard Island to find a way through the confusing web of reefs out into the open seas. Since then, the mountain has been called Cook's Look .

In the 1860s, the island was used as a base by trepang fishermen , who found large quantities of the animal, which is valued as a delicacy in Asia, in the waters around the island.

In 1879, Captain Robert Watson with his wife and young son and two servants converted a hut left by the crew of the Julia Percy for their purposes. The ruins of this hut can still be seen today. Captain Watson was a trepang fisherman. Once while he was out fishing, the mainland Aborigines murdered one of his servants. His wife, Mary Watson, was only 21 when they first arrived on the island and became famous for her courage and perseverance. After the attack by the Aborigines, she tried to flee to the mainland together with her son and the other Chinese servant in an iron kettle. This large, rectangular tub for cooking trepang can be seen in the Queensland Museum today. The cauldron drifted away from the mainland and all three died of thirst nine days later on the waterless Howick Island No. 5 . Their bodies were discovered three months later, along with Mary Watson's diary.

Two diaries of Mary Watson are kept in the Queensland State Library. One describes her last nine months on Lizard Island. The other documents her last days on the run. In retaliation for the attack, a punitive expedition was set up against groups of Aborigines, but it is very likely that it caught the wrong groups. Photos of Mary Watson, the unveiling of her monument in Cooktown and other documents relating to her person are stored in the Queensland State Library and have been digitized.

In 1939, all islands in the group were declared a national park, now administered by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service . A permit is required for investigations on the Lizard Island Group and the surrounding sea areas.

Todays use

Play media file

Among other things, coral reproduction is being researched at the Lizard Island Research Station.

There are a number of facilities on Lizard Island:

Lizard Island Research Station

There is an experimental station at the Australian Museum on the western tip of the island . Studies and courses are held there for those interested in studying coral reefs. Since the station opened in 1973, Australian and international scientists have published over 1,000 research reports.

Lizard Island Resort

On the northwest side of the island there was a small luxury resort that was operated by Voyages Hotels & Resorts until November 2009 and then taken over by Delaware North . The 40 bungalow resort focuses on area seclusion and water sports, taking advantage of its location on the Great Barrier Reef. Dives to the nearby Cod Hole are also offered.

Web links

• Official website of the national park

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Australian Government - CAPAD 2010 ( MS Excel ; 170 kB), DSEWPaC , accessed on January 7, 2013 (English)
2. ↑ Australian Government - CAPAD 1997 ( MS Excel ; 93 kB), DSEWPaC , accessed on January 7, 2013 (English)
3. ^ Steve Parish: Australian Touring Atlas . Steve Parish Publishing. Archerfield QLD 2007. ISBN 978-1-74193-232-4 . P. 15
4. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Lizard Island National Park . Department of Environment and Resource Management. Retrieved November 23, 2012
5. ^ Captain Cook's Journal During the First Voyage Round the World . Gutenberg e-books
6. ↑ ^{a b} Mary Watson Diaries. Diary, Jan 1, 1881 - Oct 1, 1881, OM81-120 / 1; Diary, Oct 2, 1881 - Oct 10, 1881, OM81-120 / 2. In: State Library of Queensland. Retrieved December 2, 2012 . 
7. ^ Jillian Robertson: Lizard Island: A Reconstruction of the Life of Mrs Watson . Hutchinson of Australia, Richmond VIC (1981). ISBN 0-09-137140-6
8. ↑ Portrait of Mary Beatrice Watson (Negative number: 67193, State Library of Queensland)
9. ↑ Unveiling Mrs Watson's Memorial at Cooktown, 1886 (Negative number: 22232, State Library of Queensland)
10. ^ Lizard Island Research Station Profile . Archived from the original on July 19, 2008. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 27, 2008. 
11. ^ Delaware North
12. ^ Lizard Island Resort . Retrieved May 27, 2008.